Why I'm an Atheistic Agnostic | Teen Ink

Why I'm an Atheistic Agnostic

January 20, 2014
By Quantum1.0 BRONZE, Davidson, North Carolina
Quantum1.0 BRONZE, Davidson, North Carolina
4 articles 0 photos 19 comments

Favorite Quote:
"We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special." - Stephen Hawking


Before we get any farther I am going to say this - it is impossible to disprove God.



Pause a second to take that in. Wait. Wait.



Good. Now we have that out of the way.



However, it is because of this statement that I cannot believe in God. I am scientist at heart. I thrive on the experimentally confirmable, repeatable, cold, hard, objective truths of direct observation. To me there is beauty in the facts. I love discussing the intangible, the unverifiable, but when I seek to truly understand the universe around me, I always turn back to science. And God is bad science.



A good scientific theory involves many components, but one essential ingredient is that it be falsifiable. One must be able to do experiments such that if a certain thing occurs the theory can be discarded. If the experimental data matches the theory, then we have further evidence to back it up.



Let me give a simple example - gravity. Say you have a theory that any object, no matter its mass, will fall with constant acceleration without air resistance (which is true). One way you could test this is to go into space where there is no air resistance and do the experiment (this was done on the moon in real life). If you were to do this, you would find that your theory is correct. However, if the objects didn't fall with the same acceleration you would know for sure that your theory is wrong.

God doesn't work like that. It is impossible to come up with an experiment that could possibly disprove His existence. That doesn't necessarily mean He's not out there. It just means God doesn't qualify as a scientifically tenable theory for the universe.

Why you might ask, must God be scientifically tenable? God is God after all. Can't He be whatever He wants?



Sure. But then I personally won't believe in Him. I only accept scientific theories of the universe, and hopefully I can make you see why.



All humans crave for certainty, but true certainty is impossible, for even the way we perceive the world may not be the way it truly is. We cannot prove that what we observe is reality. However, our observations are the only thing we have. Thus, by necessity, we must assume they are real. This is one of the unprovable assumptions of science. The second, and only other, assumption of science is that what we observe follows a determinable set of physical laws. That's it. Beyond that bare minimum of starting assumptions everything in science must be proven following a precise melding of logic and repeatable observation.



I personally cannot think of a more minimalist approach to unprovable assumptions. Sure, religion may offer more certainty on a superficial level, but if you look at the assumptions, the leaps of faith, that must be made, religion way underperforms science. In my eyes, true certainty lies in the reduction of such assumptions, not in making more of them in order to eliminate any questions about the way the world works.



Now perhaps the basic assumptions of science are wrong. Perhaps there is more to the world than we can observe. Perhaps the universe does not follow mathematically determinable laws. Perhaps there is a God. However, believing in a God involves making a lot of unprovable suppositions, and that makes me uncomfortable. If you can truly believe the irreducible hypotheses of religion, then that system of thought at least appears to offer more security and certainty. This makes religion very appealing, as by our very nature we crave this feeling of assurance. However, in my opinion, it is a false sense of security.



Since I cannot truly know the way the universe works, I choose to play the odds. It seems more likely that the multitude of religious assumptions are wrong than that the two minimal ones of science are. As long as there is a scientific theory for something, whether it be morality, the origin of life, or the dawn of the universe, I will choose that above religion and God.


The author's comments:
I've thought a lot about religion and God over the past few years, and have discussed the topic on Teen Ink's wonderful Philosophy and Thought forum. While subject to change, this is an explanation of my current beliefs that might help other people consider theirs.

Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 9 comments.


on Apr. 14 2016 at 11:42 am
Lucy-Agnes PLATINUM, Clarksville, Ohio
22 articles 0 photos 53 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Have the courage to have your wisdom regarded as stupidity. Be fools for Christ. And have the courage to suffer the contempt of the sophisticated world." - Justice Antonin Scalia

Wow. This is really, really interesting. I agree with what you said about science not being able to prove anything about God. I think your fatal flaw is in thinking that everything has to be proven by science in order to be certain. You know what I mean? I mean, science can only touch on so many things. It's not the branch of knowledge that contains all knowledge. It's just - a branch of knowledge. I was just listening to my mom read C. S. Lewis' Mere Christianity last night, and he was talking (pretty early on in the book, third or fourth chapter) about how science's job is not to say anything about God - not even to answer the biggest questions about life. It looks into "how" the universe works, but not "why" the universe works. It can't take the place of philosophy, religion, etc. Anyway, I'm not going to try to outdo C. S. Lewis, but I definitely recommend that you read Mere Christianity, at least the first few chapters. (It's a pretty short book and shouldn't take too much time to read.)

on May. 28 2015 at 12:30 am
SugarLover127 SILVER, Hartville, Ohio
8 articles 0 photos 25 comments

Favorite Quote:
Where is personal gain and perseverance without a couple failures?

Love the sincerity and emotion put into this. Beautifully done (Coming from a Christian, too)! :)

on Apr. 20 2015 at 12:41 pm
Quantum1.0 BRONZE, Davidson, North Carolina
4 articles 0 photos 19 comments

Favorite Quote:
"We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special." - Stephen Hawking

Timing is weird on these comments, so I don't know if this is recent or not, but thanks. I'm glad you liked it.

on Mar. 29 2015 at 5:15 am
Allen. PLATINUM, Palo Alto, California
32 articles 9 photos 525 comments

Favorite Quote:
[i]No matter how much people try to put you down or make you think other things about yourself, the only person you can trust about who you really are is you[/i] -Crusher-P

I apologise for not commenting earlier... But I really don't know what to say. No criticism. This is wonderful.

on Mar. 28 2015 at 7:52 pm
Doctorbug BRONZE, Washington Island, Wisconsin
1 article 0 photos 29 comments

Favorite Quote:
"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You."` Isaiah 26:3

Very well put together essay, Quantum :)

on Mar. 20 2015 at 10:32 am
Ray--yo PLATINUM, Kathmandu, Other
43 articles 2 photos 581 comments

Favorite Quote:
God Makes No Mistakes. (Gaga?)<br /> &quot;I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.&quot; -Liesel Meminger via Markus Zusac, &quot;The Book Thief&quot;

Having reread this, I see how my previous comment was rather silly; I am sorry for that. Maybe I haven't thought this through, but I can't quite seem to be able to find faults in your argument. A thing that very slightly bothers me is the use of the word 'religion' (certains religions are in fact agnostic..) but then again, there probably isn't a better alternative for the word. Brilliantly written, again.

on Dec. 7 2014 at 11:37 am
Quantum1.0 BRONZE, Davidson, North Carolina
4 articles 0 photos 19 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.&quot; - Stephen Hawking

You make a good point, and I'm certainly not as opposed to the idea of a general higher power as I am to a specific god - the Christian God for example. I still stand behind this argument, but I think its refined a little bit in the year or two since I wrote this. I have to run right now, but maybe I'll copy and paste your questions into a thread on the P&T forum and then give you my answers. I should get to it by the end of the day.   Thanks for reading my essays by the way.

on Nov. 5 2014 at 8:40 pm
ThePoeticJustice PLATINUM, Houston, Texas
29 articles 0 photos 207 comments

Favorite Quote:
Hold fast and keep your head up high for life will pass right by you like a speeding bird if you don&#039;t acknowledge it- Charles Moorer III (me)

Ok, quantum, check it: I'm not a very religious person, I don't understand the concept of some dude watching me everywhere I am writing down my sins and when I die throwing me to fire if my good don't outweigh my bad. But Science and religion have always been hand & hand. Personally, I'm leaning more towards a psychoanalyst like view but I get what's said from both parties. God is god, as you said, but science has proved some higher power even if it's not what religion claims it to be. For instance, the big bang theory, another of your articles, How in the heck does a big ball of light energy appear out of shear darkness containing the ability to potentially give birth to the universe and spanding universes? It doesn't seem like a kamehameha moment to me, so who made it? Who timed it? Who even made it implode and then explode like in the theory? Not trying to change anyone's view on god because I'll let you be you, but I'm bringing up questions that science has refused to even introduce into thought process because another step verifies religion... Loved the article, laid out well, and thanks for the explanation. I'm looking from more than two views now ;)

on Feb. 18 2014 at 7:47 am
Ray--yo PLATINUM, Kathmandu, Other
43 articles 2 photos 581 comments

Favorite Quote:
God Makes No Mistakes. (Gaga?)<br /> &quot;I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.&quot; -Liesel Meminger via Markus Zusac, &quot;The Book Thief&quot;

You present your points really, really well Quantum. But, does something really exist only when you can observe it? Trapped in an unknown foreverness, we have mere five senses to 'observe' the infinity around us, there thus surely must be something beyond our reach of understanding in a material form. So as for god, Every time I consider an 'observed' fact and put why after why behind it, I find the ultimate answer to be god.